Restaurant plans for Mike’s Carpets site rejected

A plan by Lala’s restaurant to extend its premises into the former Mike’s Carpets showroom has been rejected.

The business submitted proposals to Kirklees Council planners in March intending to change the use of the neighbouring vacant shop at 351 Bradford Road.

The extension would have provided the North Indian eatery with a further 1,598sqm of floorspace.

But planning officers said the proposals would mean over-developing the site and alter the street’s appearance.

A decision notice reads: “The proposed extension by reason of its design, scale, massing, appearance and sheer amount of development proposed would result in overdevelopment of a constrained site.

“Furthermore, the resultant development would appear as an incongruous feature within the street scene and detract from the simple industrial appearance of the host building.

“The resultant development would require approximately 150 parking spaces for both staff and customers, based on the proposed floor area.

“The proposal of 46 spaces would be a significant shortfall in the number of spaces required. This would lead to vehicles parking indiscriminately on the surrounding highway network where the principle function is that of carrying traffic freely between centres of population.”

The notice added that the applicant has failed to demonstrate how the “significant” extension and alterations would allow vehicles of neighbouring sites to park and turn. It noted the proposals were against planning policy.